Ganja White Night shook the buildings deep in the heart of downtown Kansas City, Missouri, March 2 at the Midland Theater.
In the heart of downtown in the elegant and beautiful Midland Theater with its gorgeous woodworking, Ganja White Night shook foundations with their bass-heavy set list and supporting artists Subtronics, Dirt Monkey and Truth.
The scene was so alive it was blazing as the fog machines filled the giant theater with smoke. Well, even more smoke than there already was — with a name like Ganja White Night, a certain atmosphere tends to fill the air.
Ganja White Night wasted no time kicking off their set with tracks from The Origins
The lighting was incredible. The stage was set with large projection screen backgrounds and so many lights one could become dazzled purely by the light show its self. Just as the art direction in their most recent album, The Origins, was very succinct and direct, the light show for every act left the audience in a state of euphoric dance mania. The soundsystem was wonderfully tuned for the deep rich bass tones as they bounced off the beautiful woodworkings of The Midland Theater.
The night wouldn’t be complete without a phenomenal roster of supporting artists.
The night began with artist Subtronics, kicking into the set hard, heavy and fast. Subtronics set the night’s pace and feeling with … the best way I can articulate the sound is as “a gross display of deep synth mayhem…in a good way.” Highly punctuated rhythmic bass lines made everyone around me almost jolt and dance uncontrollably. Heads were banging, and banging hard.
Subtronics putting on an aggressive setlist and killing it in the heart of downtown KCMO.
Following Subtronics was a set I very very much enjoyed, Dirt Monkey. Dirt Monkey takes all the elements of dubstep I hold and love, and intermixes them with different genres to create unique, beautifully complex music. A lot of Dirt Monkey is pure dubstep, but a lot the music also holds many other elements distributed across a vast amount of genres. From blazing fast drum and bass to wickedly potent dubstep, Dirt Monkey put on an amazing performance. As a bonus, here in KC we were treated to a song that Dirt Monkey said they had written that day and, of course, “Warning” was played, much to my utter delight.
Dirt Monkey performing “Warning” to a packed house in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Fans of pure aggressive electronica, slower paced tempos, and downright devilishly low sub bass lines will be in for a treat with Truth. Hailing from New Zealand, Truth was added later to the bill, and one could watch the EDM scene in Kansas City go absolutely bonkers when the announcement came through. And what a performance it was. The levels of bass Truth had in the set was mind crunching. The type of bass that makes your legs go wobbly and you can absolutely feel it in your chest. The visuals Truth projected were both intriguing and a bit creepy, but that’s exactly what the crowd wanted.
Truth rattling shit off of the wall with his setlist. God, the bass was intense.
And then….Ganja White Night comes on and the entire house goes fucking nuts.
Ganja White Night walking onto the stage to a packed house.
Much could be said about GWN, but one thing is for certain, the show they performed left every. single. person in a sense of basshead daze. It is this state one gets in when the bass in the music just flattens you and then takes you on for a ride as you feel like it becomes you.
You can find Ganja White Night on Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Twitter, and Songkick. Check out their tour dates and see if your city is listed. With a lineup like that, the show is sure to be amazing.
